Grain-door for cars.



PATBNTED MAR.17,..1908. G. H. GILMAN.

GRAIN 'DOOR POR CARS.

APPLIUATION FILED 00T. 6, 1907.

No. 882,308. u

2 SHEETS-SHBET 1.

MLM

G. H. GILM'AN.

GRAIN DOOR FOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 5, 1907.

oRms Fsrsns cu., wnsnmaran. n. q.

PATENTED MAR. 1'7, 1908;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

GEORGE H. GILMAN, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

GRAIN-DOOR FOR CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 17', 1908.

Application filed. October 5, 1907. Serial No. 396,068.

` To all whom it may concern:

Be it l'nown that I, GEORGE H. GILMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Grain Doors forCars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to mal-fe and use the same Myinvention has for its especial object to provide an improved grain doorfor cars, and to this end it consists of the novel devices andcombinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

This improved grain door, sc-called, while capable of independent use,is especially adapted for vuse in connection with an outside slidingdoor that is mounted to slide upon a suitable horizontal guide railsecured to the exterior of the side of the car body.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, li echaracters indicate lil-e parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure l is a view in side elevation, withparts breien away, showing the central portion of one side of a box carof standard construction, and illustrating one of my improved graindoors applied thereto. Eig. 2 is a transverse vertical section talen onthe line r2 x? of Fig. l, but showing the outside car door in a closedposition. Fig. 3 is a section. taren on the same line as Fig. 2, butwith. the outside car door moved from a closed and with the grain doordropped into a released position; and Fig. 4 is a detail in horizontalsection, talen on the line x4 r4 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, only one side of the car body 1 is shown, but this isprovided with the usual side door opening 2 that is adapted lto beclosed in the usual way by an outside sliding door I-Iorizontallydisposed upper and lower guide rails 4 and 5 are rigidly lsecured toVthe exterior of the car body above and below the door openingI 2, andthe outside door 3 is shown as provided with the usual lower edge keeperbrackets 6 that embrace and support said door 3 for a sliding movementupon the lower guide rail 5 in the customary way. The upper edge of theoutside door 3 is adapted to be held against outward swinging movementby any suitable guides, such as the usual retaining brackets,

not shown. In the usual construction, the guide rails 4 and 5 needextend only above and below the door opening and to one side thereof,but for the application of my improved grain door these guide rails, andespecially the upper guide rail, should extend over the door opening anda considerable distance on each side thereof.

The so-called grain door or inside door should quite closely fit withinthe door opening 2, and is arranged for a sliding movement and for ahinge-lilfe swinging movement from an upper guide rail 4.- The saidgrain door 7, in the drawings, is shown as constructed of wood, but maybe made of any suitable material. To the exterior of the grain door 7,near the upper corners thereof are rigidly secured hinge plates 8 havinglaterally spaced lugs to which the lower end of a crooked link 9 ispivotally connected by a pin l0. The upper end of each croolfed orcurved link 9 is pivotally connected by a pin 11 to the outwardlyproject-ing laterally spaced ears of an upper hinge plate or bracket l2.The upper hinge brackets 12 are rigidly secured by rivets 13 orotherwise to channel-shaped guide heads 14 that are arranged to slidefreely upon the upper guide rail 4. The hinge brackets 12 are furtherprovided with laterally spaced depending door guiding shoes l5, theouter edges of which are curved or beveled, as best shown in Fig. 4, forengagement with the outer surfaces ot' the upper edge portion of theoutside door 3. A quite heavy stop cleat 16 extends across the dooropening 2 and is rigidly secured to the upper portion of the door frame.The outer edge of this stop cleat 16 is beveled to afford clearance forthe croolfed links 9, when the grain door is closed, as shown in Fig. 2.Also as shown, the upper edge of the grain door 7 is beveled slightly,as shown at 17.

The grain door is preferably provided in its upper portion with aman-hole or opening 18 through which a person may enter the car when thesame is loaded with grain. This opening 18 should, of course, be locatedabove the grain level and, if desired, it may be normally closed by asuitable plate or supplemental door section.v The numeral 19 indicates ahand-piece applied to the lower portion of the outer surface of thegrain'door.

Suitable lock devices are preferably applied to the lower edge of thegrain door. These its upper edge, is held inward by the beveled 4shoesor Cam portions 15 of the upper hinge lock devices may take variousforms but, as shown in the drawings, they are a'f'l'orded. by verticallymovable lock plungers 420 mounted in guides 21 on said grain door andengageable with depressions orvseats 22 or i the door sill.

lith the construction described, the grairl door, when dropped into theposition showr in Fig. 3, is capable of being slid upon the upper rail4- from a position in lateral alinement with the door opening 2, into apositionv entirely at one side of the said door opening, and vice versa.When the grain door is alined with the door opening, it may be swung into said door opening or into a closed position shown in Fig. 2. Toaccomplish this closing movement, the lower edge oi the l door should beheld farther outward than the upper edge of the door, and the extremeupperedge of the door should be given an upward swinging movement sothat it is lodged inward of and against the stop cleat 16, and then thelower edge of the door should be swung into position and secured to thedoor sill b y means of the lock bolts 20. When the grain door is thusset in a closed position, the crooked or curved links 9 are carried intoposition above the line of movement of the upper edge of the outsidedoor 3, and the said outside door may then be slid into a closedposition, as shown in Fig. 2. In. this closed position, the outsidedoor, at

brackets l2, and the upper edge of said outside door then engages andpositively holds the said crooked links 9 in their positions shown inFig. 2, so that the said outside door I becomes in a sense a lock forsecuring the inside door or grain door in its closed position,interlocked with the stop cleat 16.

When the door opening 2 is to be entirely f opened, the outside door 3may be slid to one side of the door opening, and the grain door, afterbeing 'Iirst dropped into the position shown in Fig. 3, may be then slidentirely to the other side of the door opening, in which position it mayalso be secured when the said grain door is not required for use in thedoor opening. 1

The improved grain door above described is of comparatively small costand is capable of easy application to box cars of standard construction.

W'hat l claim is:

1. The combination with a car body having a door opening andhorizontally extended outside guide rails located one above and theother below said door opening, of a grain door supported by said upperguide rail with freedom for sliding and lateral swinging movements, andan outside door mounted for sliding movements on said lower guide railto and from a closed position, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a car body having a door opening, and an outsideguide rail extended l'iorizontally above said door opening, of guideheads mounted to slide ou said guide rail and carrying dependingdoorguiding shoes, a grain door adapted to Vfit within said dooropening, links connecting the upper portion of said grain door to saidguide heads, and a slidably mounted outside door arranged to be slidinto a closed position with its upper edge portion engaged between saidguide shoes and links and holding the latter, and hence said grain door,in a closed position, substantially as described.

The combination with a car body having a door opening, a stop cleatsecured to the upper portion of said door opening, and an outsidehorizontally extended guide rail secured above said door opening, of agrain door adapted to lit within said door opening, guide heads slidablymounted on said guide rail and carrying depending door-guiding shoes,links connecting the upper portion oi said grain door to said slidingguide heads, a slid ably mounted outside door adapted to be moved into aclosed. position with its upper edge portion located between said guideshoes and links and serving to hold said links pressed inward, and hencethe upper edge olf said grain door, interlocked with said stop cleat,and means for locking the lower edge of said grain door to the doorsill, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof l ailiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE H. GlLh/IAN.

Witnesses:

H. D. KiLGouu, MAME HOEL.

